I will be up front here and say that Dream Theater is one of my favourite bands. I thought i was pretty good guitarist and then i heard Erotomania from the Awake album. I was dumbfounded. Here in Australia, we were saturated with the grunge movement. As a guitarist that meant no solos. In all of this, you had Dream Theater. Awake was my first introduction to them, and i quickly went back to Utopia Record Store at Clarence St and purchased Images and Words and When Dream and Day Unite. That is how we did it back then. You had to catch a bus, then a train, then walk a little bit, just to purchase music.

250,000 people voted. This poll/vote contest could seem to be a silly exercise, however it is far from that. Dream Theater found out that they where in the final, and they put it out there to their fans. The fans responded. They took time to go and vote. That is the key. Connections. The DT fans felt enough of a connection with the band, to respond to their call to arms. They beat Metallica, who makes them look like small fish when it comes to selling concert tickets.

Dream Theater are in the midst of recording their next album. They have an online presence. They all use Twitter and Facebook. They offer video updates, video interviews and whatever else they can offer. They even hired Michael Brandvold to be their Internet marketer. They do Guitar Clinics, Keyboard Clinics and Drum Clinics. That is a face to face connection.

If the fans respond to the album the same way they responded to DT’s call to arms to vote, expect big things.